Prosecutors in Nevada asking for 3 ranching standoff trials

Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Updated 4:46 pm, Thursday, December 1, 2016

Photo: John Locher, AP

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FILE - In this April 11, 2015, file photo, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy speaks with supporters at an event in Bunkerville, Nev. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the 17 defendants facing charges in an armed confrontation with U.S. officials over grazing rights near cattleman Bundy's ranch. less

FILE - In this April 11, 2015, file photo, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy speaks with supporters at an event in Bunkerville, Nev. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the ... more

Photo: John Locher, AP

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FILE - This Jan. 27, 2016, photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office shows Ammon Bundy. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the 17 defendants facing charges in an armed confrontation with U.S. officials over grazing rights near cattleman Cliven Bundy's ranch. The first trial would start Feb. 6 for the accused conspiracy leaders: Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and co-defendants Ryan Payne and Peter Santilli. (Multnomah County Sheriff via AP, file) less

FILE - This Jan. 27, 2016, photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office shows Ammon Bundy. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the 17 defendants facing ... more

Photo: Uncredited, AP

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FILE - This Jan. 27, 2016, file photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, shows Ryan Bundy. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the 17 defendants facing charges in an armed confrontation with U.S. officials over grazing rights near cattleman Cliven Bundy's ranch. The first trial would start Feb. 6 for the accused conspiracy leaders: Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and co-defendants Ryan Payne and Peter Santilli. (Multnomah County Sheriff via AP, File) less

FILE - This Jan. 27, 2016, file photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, shows Ryan Bundy. Prosecutors want a federal judge in Nevada to schedule three group trials for the 17 defendants facing ... more

Prosecutors in Nevada asking for 3 ranching standoff trials

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors want a judge in Nevada to schedule a trio of trials for the 17 defendants jailed on charges stemming from an armed confrontation in April 2014 with U.S. officials over grazing rights near cattleman Cliven Bundy's ranch.

But Bundy and his attorney call in documents filed Wednesday for all the defendants to be tried together.

Otherwise, the defendants who are required to wait will spend more months behind bars without a chance to prove their innocence, Bundy attorney Bret Whipple said in the request to Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro.

All 17 defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges that could get them decades in federal prison. They and two others who have pleaded guilty in the case remain in federal custody in southern Nevada.

The judge plans a Dec. 9 date-setting hearing in the case stemming from allegations the men conspired to create an armed posse to prevent federal agents and contract cowboys from rounding up Bundy cattle that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said were trespassing on public land.

Navarro has denied bids by Bundy and other defendants to be tried individually. She called it "logistically impossible to try all 17 defendants in a single trial."

Ammon and Ryan Bundy were returned to Las Vegas last month after they and five other defendants were acquitted by a federal court jury in Portland, Oregon, of all charges relating to an occupation of a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon.